Monday, 1 April 2019

So - Customs Union It Is

Are we closing in on something sensible?  A short while ago our old friend Mark Wadsworth mused on what was so very wrong with a Customs Union: and the same thought had crossed my mind as soon as it became clear that Liam Fox was well placed in the ranks of the utterly incompetent - a werritable w****r, in fact.  The chances of getting favourable trade deals now with any nation that truly counts?  Zippo.

Customs Union.  Can almost have a ring to it. Like the Hanseatic League; the romance of trade.  ECJ jurisdiction on trade issues?  So what.  There must surely be a Commons majority for that now.**

** yes yes, we understand the bastards in Brussels will squeeze out a few more drops in the process.  And that it may be a trick.  And that Corbyn will claim it was all his idea.  All I'm saying is:  (a) with May gone, and Fox too with any luck, perhaps a half-decent negotiating team can be assembled - shouldn't be beyond the wit of man in a city like London.  And (b) irrespective of whatever would have been mine or anyone else's first choice, that boat sailed in 2016 with the Hinkley fiasco and there must surely be a Commons majority for that now 


andrew said...

there must surely be a Commons majority for that now

... no

if you vote _for_ something you then have to stand behind it and explain why it is a good idea.

... so anyone voting _for_ any of those clever wheezes has to answer

just about every shade of brexit that is less 'hard' than May's is not really brexit by the definitions of a good part of the UK.
i.e. We become a vassal state.

just about every shade of brexit that is less 'hard' than May's leaves the UK in a worse state than remaining.
i.e. We would be better off staying

so .....

Mays deal or no deal

No-one will vote for May's deal - so no deal and

The advantage of that is that we will be truly independent
(of course we will remain in compliance with pretty much all their rules else we cannot export to them)

Freedom has a price

But my next prediction is that the house will vote against _everything_ - including no deal.
The EU will get tired and we will leave without a deal.

This is in the secure knowledge that the deal the EU then negotiates will be even more favorable to them than May's deal.

and all the MPs can carry on blaming the EU for everything, and they voted against this.

Trebles all round.

DJK said...

If you were to pick one of the customs union and the single market, surely it's better to be like Switzerland and be in the single market but not the customs union?

Bloke in North Dorset said...

Also a good piece against CU fromGreg Hands:

Billy Marlene said...

If it was, more accurately, styled ‘Customs Stranglehold’ it would not sound so cuddly.

Anonymous said...

TM has achieved the almost impossible. She has united Ireland and the Irish but split mainland UK.

But her greatest achievement is the one from today where she is attempting the breakdown any lasting trust between teachers and pupils by making teachers grass on any pupil they suspect.

She has a gift for c**king things up never seen in a generation. Appointing Fox to find trade deals is a minor oversight.

andrew said...

We need to define a unit of incompetence.

I propose May, Grayling or Fox. As in

"I made a right May of that"
"I completely Foxxed that up"
"That got completely Graylinged"

Bill quango MP said...

A Grayling should be for relatively minor miscalculations that cost millions upon millions of pounds.
A Fox should be an unwise choice that hints at something dodgy behind the scenes.
A Maying should be reserved for mistakes leading to famine. Or impoverishmen. Or war.
Or possibly for making a choice that results in you own side’s instant capitulation.

Nick Drew said...

we are witnessing the slow detonation of a gigaMay

Anonymous said...

The new name for the replacement of a leader. Dis-May-ed.

Charlie said...

Talk now of going for the option that lost least badly. It's a complete farce, but unfortunately the subject matter is deadly serious.